By Ankur Samtaney, Eurekahedge Analyst – April was another strong month for hedge funds, with the Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index up a solid 4.4%. Gains were mostly seen coming from equity allocations, as the markets continued their steep upturn amid declining investor risk aversion.

The S&P 500 rose 9.4% during the month, partly owing to better-than-expected quarterly earnings results. As a result, long/short managers turned in returns averaging an impressive 4.8%; bets in favor of equities were largely profitable, while some equity market neutral funds and others with significant short exposure turned in subdued gains or losses.

CTAs, on the other hand, had another flat to negative month owing to varied returns across managers. Diversified futures- and stock futures-investing funds fared well on the whole, while some trading purely in the currency and commodity suffered losses.

The currency markets were characterized by slight weakness in the Euro and Swiss franc against the US dollar, while the Yen was appreciated marginally.

In the commodity markets, while movement was generally mixed, precious metals were down in April, on the back of a notable decline in risk aversion.

From the current issue of

The testimony of former FBI Director James Comey came and went with more hype than harm to Donald Trump’s administration. The more important issue is whether Congress spent too much political capital to get comprehensive tax reform done by the end of 2017. The likelihood of significant policy changes is fleeting for the year. Some economists are even losing hope that tax reform will be completed by the midterm elections of 2018.